Mich. jury deliberates fate of grandson-killing grandma

Mar. 18, 2013
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Sandra Layne, 75, of West Bloomfield, Mich., gives emotional testimony March 14 of the moments before, during and after she shot her 17-year-old grandson, Jonathan Hoffman, in what she claims was self-defense. She has worn the same yellow sweater each day of her trial. / John T. Greilick, AP

by L.L. Brasier, Detroit Free Press

by L.L. Brasier, Detroit Free Press

PONTIAC, Mich. - Jurors deliberated 90 minutes Monday on whether a 75-year-old grandmother who killed her grandson last year is a calculating woman who stalked the teen for more than 6 minutes in her condo or a terrified victim forced to shoot him six times in self-defense.

They will resume Tuesday.

Summing up his case against Sandra Layne, prosecutor Paul Walton again played Jonathan Hoffman's May 18, 2012, 911 call in which he said his grandmother had just shot him.

"I'm going to die," the 17-year-old said before he was shot again with the dispatcher on the line.

But in the months previous, Hoffman, who was living with his grandparents so he could finish his senior year at his Michigan high school while his parents moved to Arizona, had been using drugs and acting increasingly violent.

"To grandma, he's out of control," defense attorney Jerome Sabbota told jurors during his closing argument. "You're not 73, 74 years old. You have to put yourself in her position. ‚?¶She goes upstairs, he kicks her in the chest, he hits her in the face. ‚?¶ She was in hysterics," he said.

Jurors asked to see Layne's 9mm Glock up close and hear the 911 tape again as they tried to decide whether Layne acted in self-defense or was guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, voluntary manslaughter or involuntary manslaughter.

Sabbota urged jurors to acquit Layne, a retired school teacher and mother of five, in the May 18 death of Hoffman inside her West Bloomfield, Mich., condo.

"She killed a child she was trying to protect and tried to save," Sabbota said. "Don't compound the tragedy."

Walton, Oakland County's chief assistant prosecutor, told jurors in sometimes scathing tones to remember that Layne had plenty of opportunities to stop the bloodshed but did not. He said she passed by doors that could have been used if she wanted to escape and telephones in the house to call for help.

"Rather than choosing 10 bullets to be your negotiator, why don't you pick up one of the 11 phones?" Walton said. "You don't get a gun because somebody is using bad language. The only thing that Jonathan had at that point was a caustic or smart mouth."

Layne had testified that she was afraid of her grandson.

Walton reminded jurors that Layne didn't report any injuries to police when they arrived at her home after the shooting.

Layne, as she has done every day since the trial began March 4, sat rocking slightly at the defense table, wearing the same yellow sweater. At times, she seemed near tears.

She said she shot him after he struck her during an argument. He had demanded money from her so he could flee the state after failing a court-ordered drug test. Hoffman was on probation after an earlier drug overdose landed him in the hospital.

Hoffman's parents - Jennifer Hoffman, Layne's daughter, and Michael Hoffman - were in the courtroom. The two now are divorced.